Chinese cellist Jian Wang to Asharq Al-Awsat: Technology is disruptive
The twentieth session of the “Abu Dhabi Festival” draws the curtain to the sound of applause that ignites following the performances. What we followed is art that respects taste and influences ideas. A course whose motto is “The will to develop is the yearning for leadership” celebrates fingertips playing and throats that extend over spaces. The dancing bodies swayed in the “Pearl Fisherman’s Daughter” show, preoccupied with showing the UAE’s heritage. The night of “Buddha’s Passion”, composed by the Chinese “Oscar” conductor Tan Dun, is wonderful because it touches a deeper layer inside the mind.
Beethoven from China
I attended “Al-Sharq Al-Awsat” nights, witnessing an art that refuses to collide with softness. Haoxin Zhang, a Chinese pianist, took his breath away with a two-hour solo performance at the NYU Abu Dhabi Arts Center. There was silence except for the clever fingers, as they recalled “Piano Sonata No. 29 – Hammerclavier” by Ludwig van Beethoven. The melody escalated from tenderness to incitement to “slap,” and the cheeks of the young man from East Asia began to shake, as evidence of drifting with the influence of music that prompted the head to move left and right, announcing that it was not enough for the fingertips to run. Body and soul in majestic convergence.
Zhang Haoxin has a long road ahead, and his feet are confident. His effervescent enthusiasm overpowers the wisdom of experience. He adjusts his black chair to the color of the piano, to surrender it to magic. The notes catch the noise and let it go.
The young man who has performed with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, and the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra becomes all of the music, even the fixed parts by virtue of sitting. It sails and then returns, with the throbbing, pumping and explosion that sailing contains. He raises his hand at the end of the third piece, “Piano Sonata No. 32,” and raises his head and soul, as if he is presenting the playing to space and delivering the melody to the universe.
The young Chinese pianist Haoxen Zhang restored Beethoven’s music
“From West to East, a Classic Odyssey”
The Orchestra of the Théâtre Comunale di Modena Pavarotti Phryne enters to take its seats. Its leader is Tan Dun, the star of the festival. His countryman and cellist Jian Wang presents an iconic collection of classic geniuses: Mozart, Mussorgsky and Tchaikovsky. In front of an official and diplomatic presence at the Emirates Palace, and under the supervision of the Abu Dhabi Foundation for Culture and Arts, the founder and artistic director of the Abu Dhabi Festival, Hoda Al-Khamis Kanoo, who is present at all evenings, the musicians performed “The Odyssey of the West and the East”, and for the first time in the Emirates a piece “ Pippa Concerto.
A performance that gives meaning to the values of cultural convergence, reflected in the superior performance of two of the most famous players of contemporary classical music. Tan Dun and Jian Wang. The latter tells Asharq Al-Awsat, between rehearsals, that his Emirati visit reflects his passion for history and cultures. “My music is the language that leads to the completion of dialogue. Simple and comprehensive language, it gives me an impetus of feelings,” says the cello artist. It means “unifying emotions,” and it stresses commonalities among human beings: “Everything else tells us that we are different. Music and the arts are an exception. Our concern for them allows for a sense of universal happiness. Before them we are equal.”
For him, the arts are a universal celebration of these fleeting feelings and a reflection of the beautiful aspects of our souls. He talks regarding an exciting artistic mixture offered by the Abu Dhabi Festival, which is participating in its activities for the first time. In exchange for what he collects, he is stopped by the “disruptive experience” that technology intensifies. Although it brings people closer, the distance keeps them away, through video communication. Its toll is the diminishing of human communication: “People do not rush to quarrel when they are together. Behind the screens, the fight rages on. One of the biggest disasters of our time is the technology that leads to the extent of ugliness. Communication means.
Chinese cellist Jian Wang believes in cultural encounter
* “Passion of the Buddha”: a wonderful philosophical manifestation
“Passion of Buddha”, an amazing performance for which the audience applauded warmly for a quarter of an hour. The musical and operatic composition of Tan Dun, honored by the festival, following two nights, he gave it to the camels. Six orchestral acts form a lyrical-musical return to the ancient ruins and caves of Dunhuang, China. The hovering conductor, with one hand holding the baton, establishes the rhythms and the other, free, adjusts the course of the harmony; A world that weaves hymns and stories, celebrating through the manifestations of Buddhist philosophy the great concepts and values, the most beautiful of which are tolerance, sacrifice, love and salvation.
Six chapters are the path of Buddha’s torments and his spiritual ascent towards “Nirvana”. From a mural that tells the story of a little prince who learns that all souls are equal, in exchange for a traitorous man who is affected by the cycle of life (karma) following he betrayed the “deer of nine colors”, the story begins. With a sad voice resembling flutes, the soprano Li Chu sings the pain of “Princess Miaoshan”, a symbol of sacrifice and redemption, so that the third chapter testifies to the dialectic of the sublime meaning of the principle of giving. On the Silk Road, beaming with legendary grace, a monk is drawn to the fate of a dying woman, embodying the Buddha’s message of compassion.
A pamphlet waiting for those seated in their seats summarizes the epic. What the eye sees and the mind witnesses, is another position that only the witnesses of that evening can reach. Tan Dun writes for healing and composes for reverence and prayer. In width, the living creatures of the world are equal, from the smallest, like ants, to the largest, like dinosaurs. Love is a passion and a guide. Music is an awakening that renews the creative person before the light.
The deer myth and human greed, pathetic shorthand. The deer is sure of the betrayal of man, and yet he saves him. The symbolism is in the tragic ends met by the traitors, and the worst “karma” awaits those who are contaminated with selfishness. The “deer of nine colors” dies with stab wounds, so that the just punishment will come, no matter how long it takes.
In the presto, rain wets the static hills on the rocks, so we glimpse the flow of the stream. Sufferings move like shadows, and the mind resides farthest but rises in the wind. The tree longs for rest, and this wind continues to blow. A person lives without eyes and arms, but dies without a heart. For two hours, the amazing orchestra paves a way towards liberating minds, awakening wisdom on the way to the other side of life’s journey.
Chinese conductor Tan Dun performs “Buddha’s Passion”
* “The Pearl Fisherman’s Daughter”
A dance show in which Emirati writer Maitha Al-Khayyat and Emirati author Iman Al-Hashemi cooperate with the American dance company “Company E”. The Lebanese-American artist Maysa Karraa recounts the passion of Emirati fishermen to search for pearls in the waters of the Gulf, while the bodies paint the scenery of diving, the wonders of the sea, the stories of families, traditions and risk. The trilogy of dance, music and singing blends with technology techniques to bear witness to an exciting narration starring the pearls of the Gulf, its waves and the stories of the sailors. The show fell into the monotony of swaying, and some of the dance movement deviated from the track of meaning, leaving behind a sense of gag. Music, choreography, and the joy of discovering Emirati heritage compensated.
